Thousands of people demonstrated against a convention of the far-right Alternative for Germany on Saturday, blocking roads and delaying the meeting's start as parties launched their campaigns for the country's election next month. A heavy police presence was in place in Riesa—in the eastern state of Saxony, a stronghold of Alternative for Germany—and officers cleared some protesters from the streets, the AP reports. However, the two-day convention started more than two hours late as many delegates' trips to the venue were slowed by blockades.
AfD formally nominated co-leader Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor by acclamation. Weidel, who was among those delayed, thanked delegates for "defying the left-wing mob and getting here." Polls show the party in second place ahead of the Feb. 23 election, with about 20% support. However, Weidel—who this week held a live chat with tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has endorsed the party—has no realistic chance of becoming Germany's leader, as other parties refuse to work with AfD. The mainstream conservative opposition Union bloc leads polls with around 30%, and its candidate, Friedrich Merz, is the favorite to become the next chancellor.
The Union is focusing on boosting Germany's stagnant economy in particular and on reducing irregular migration, per the AP. Weidel assailed it as a "party of fraudsters" on Saturday, urging people to "vote for the original." She called for closing borders to undocumented migration and large-scale deportations of asylum-seekers. At a news conference in Hamburg, Merz concentrated on his party's offer of "fundamental change" after the unpopular and notoriously rancorous coalition of center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed. He said he aims to lead "a government that stops arguing" and drafts laws that will produce a reliable environment for domestic and foreign investors. "Then we will have higher potential growth, and then we will have higher actual growth again," Merz said.
(More
German election stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
